FicWad

"Ray?" I almost whisper. His face is tense, his brow furrowed. I feel his shoulders droop as he studies the ground beneath us. I shake his arm gently, " Ray, answer me, come on. You can tell me, I won't hate you or anything." He hesitates, still staring at the ground. " Okay, you don't have to tell me. I'm cool with that." I say, letting go of his arm. " Come on, let's get you back home."
We trudge silently up the path, Ray pulling out his key and jamming it in the door, fumbling as he did so. "See you round dude!" I call as I turn to leave. The awkward silence wasn't pleasant.
I'm just reaching out to open the gate, "erm...Frank?"
I turn around, my hand resting on the painted wood," Yeah?"
"um...y..yeah..I.. I do..." Ray's knuckles are white where he's gripping the door frame, as if he's using it to keep himself upright. His hair falls across his face, he can't look me in the eye. "Okay. Thanks for telling me, that was brave." I call to him from the pavement. "See you!" I leave him stood in his own doorway. I stuff my hands into my hoodie pockets, thinking about everything. So, Ray liked Grace. That was cute, I'd never seen him so choked up about a girl before. I grin to myself as I walk. Awwww...my friend Ray liked my other friend Grace, just like in that movie I watched the other night. Well, minus the whole zombie ripping their heads off thing. That would suck.

I decide I'm going to talk to Grace about it tomorrow, see how she feels about it. I want to get them together, I want my friends to be happy.

I begin my match-making project the next day at school. I pull her aside at break as she emerges from the drama studio.
"Hey! That was the best lesson ever. We were throwing chairs around and screaming and yelling whilst reciting Brutus's speech from Julius Ceasar! You know, to practice expression and stuff." Stray hairs are flying out from her head, and she sounds excited and happy as ever.
"Really? I wanted to throw at chair at Mrs Morrison before...seriously I hate her so much." I reply, laughing. " Erm.. are you free now? I kinda need to talk to you about something."
"Sure, let's go to the library ok?" She looks at me earnestly from behind her glasses.

Settling down into two of the comfy chairs by the large library window. I wait a couple of minutes while a year seven hovers about putting books back on shelves. Poor kid, already sold his soul to the librarian. After he toddles off to go and put genre labels on a stack of new books, I take a deep breath. "So, was last night ok?"
"Hell yeah!, it was freaking awesome!" Grace tucks her long legs up underneath her on the chair, so she looked like she had little stumpy legs.
"Great! We need to do it again some time. Was Ray alright? If he seemed a little grumpy its just because he normally kicks everyone's ass at games. He was freaked out at being beaten by a girl I think."
"Ha! Yeah, I felt kinda bad afterwards, but I spend so much time on games I kind of get good at them..." She flicks her long fringe out of her eyes, " Ray wasn't too mad at me was he? He seems like a really cool guy, I get why he's friends with you."
Oh god, now comes the difficult bit. I swallow, trying to moisten my mouth a little. I lick my lips to stop them sticking together. " Nah, he was fine. You see the thing is...." I force myself to look at her, she's looking at me intently, her big eyes curious, " Well... I was walking him back to his house and well, he told me... he told me he likes you."
There's a really awkward silence, while Grace continues to stare at me, as if she's not quite taken it in. "...really? Ray said that?" Her cheeks go pink and she looks away, her fringe obscuring her eyes.
"Yeah, he really did. I've never seen him so worked up about a girl before actually. He was shaking a little, he couldn't look at me." I say, smiling at her, " It takes a lot to make Ray like that, I swear." I try to peek under her hair to see her expression. It doesn't work, but I can see a tiny grin playing on the corners of her mouth. " What do you want me to say to him?"
"Erm...just ask him if he'd like to meet up at Starbucks on Saturday, one o'clock." She says, practically in a whisper. "Erm, look, I'd better get going, I have to go back to speak to my drama teacher about something before break's over. See you later!" She gets up from the chair and waves shakily, nearly falling over as she tries to walk with pins and needles in her legs. I suppress a giggle, her reaction was so cute. Success Frank!

"Frankie, why are you looking so happy babe?" Aiden's sat behind me, hissing in my ear while Mr Johnson takes the register. "I didn't think emo freaks could be happy."
"Just fuck off Aiden. Shut your huge mouth for just one fucking minute, surely even you are capable of doing that?" I retort, turning to face him. I'm as shocked as he is at my new found confidence. I also realize, I've just put my foot in it.
"You'd better watch your back short ass. If I were you, I'd sleep with one eye open." He snarls once he's recovered. I roll my eyes, but once again, that familiar icy shock sensation was snaking up my spine. " Right class, today we will be looking at how atoms bond together in a reaction. Open up your books to pages 35 and 36 please. I want you to read them and then answer the questions on lined paper." I breathe out heavily, scribbling answers down on my paper. I'm alright at science and get most of my answers right, making Aiden snorts with laughter behind me. Whatever, he's just jealous because he got all his answers wrong. The bell goes and I hurry to next lesson to prevent being left alone with Aiden. I may be able to shoot a clever comeback his way, but I was still scared of him.

"I'll speak to Ray tonight okay, then I'll text you what he says. Don't worry, I think he'll come. Stay positive" I say to Grace before she gets on the bus. She nods silently, clutching her ring binder to her chest, her skinny fingers picking at where the guitar patterned paper is peeling off at a corner. "Go on, get on your bus before it goes without you. Keep your phone where you can hear it ok?" I gently push her towards the bus, then wave as it sets off. She timidly waggles her fingers back, resting her chin on her file, suddenly all quiet and shy. Not her usual self. I watch at the bus drives away, seeing her hunched frame slump against the window. Poor Girl, I think to myself, She's as embarrassed as Ray is.